Blue Springs dominates in showdown with Lee’s Summit

The Blue Springs defense has been reminded quite often about what happened the last time it played Lee’s Summit. The Wildcats won, despite giving up 62 points.

“We’ve been thinking about it 365 days,” Blue Springs senior defensive end Elijah Lee said. “(The coaches) even put it up in the locker room. The first thing I did on Monday was I tore all of them down and threw them in the trash.”

It was a bold statement — and so was the Wildcats’ 49-7 dismantling of Lee’s Summit on Friday night in Blue Springs.

Blue Springs, 9-0, forced three-first half turnovers, converted them into three touchdowns, and simply ran over the previously unbeaten Tigers.

“You don’t expect to come in and beat an 8-0 team 49-7. You just don’t expect that, but we’ve had such a really good week, especially defensively with our preparation,” Blue Springs coach Kelly Donohoe said. “I felt really confident coming in. Our kids have been listening about the 62 points all year, and we’ve got a great group of competitive guys that when they get to feeling excited about something they really attack it hard and that’s how they were all week.”

The Wildcats responded by holding Lee’s Summit to nearly 34 points below its season average.

“We put two extra DBs on the field and brought a linebacker down as a D-end, and we just flipped our line around and gave him a different look every time,” Lee said.

It worked. Lee’s Summit quarterback Drew Lock finished 10 of 22 passing for 134 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

The Wildcats locked up their sixth straight Suburban Gold Conference title, and their fifth straight season without a loss in league play.

Lee’s Summit, 8-1, will have to figure out how to rebound from a decisive setback.

“We’ve got to find a way to hopefully go win two football games. We get both of those at home,” Lee’s Summit coach Eric Thomas said. “We’ve accomplished a lot by getting that No. 2 seed and hopefully we get a chance to come back over here and throw our hat in the ring again and see what happens.”

Blue Springs’ football program can in large part stand on its reputation at this point. Statement victories don’t come often outside of state title games.

Still, a 49-7 win over a previously unbeaten team speaks volumes.

“Every time we step on the field, we try to send a message,” Warmack said. “Being No. 1 in the state, there’s a target on our back.”

It’s a position Blue Springs is accustomed to, and the Wildcats will welcome anyone who’d like to step up and take a shot at them.

“We wanted to let everybody know just because we’re 8-0, or 9-0 now, we’re not going to take anybody lightly,” Lee said.